Jason Kenney

On April 1, 2015, new federal government rules will set the stage for the largest set of deportations in Canada's history. A new immigration policy targeting low-waged migrant workers in the Temporary Foreign Workers Program (TFWP) and the Live-In Caregiver Program (LCP) takes effect.

This policy has been dubbed the "four and four" or "4 & 4" rule because the legislation introduced on April 1, 2012 states that migrant workers who have been employed in Canada for four years or more must leave the country, and that these workers will be barred from working in Canada for another four years, after which they can reapply for a work permit.

The circumstances surrounding the death of a Canadian special-forces soldier in Iraq are important because they strongly suggest the Harper Government has been lying to Canadians about what our troops are doing in that country.

Whether Canadian soldiers should be in Iraq is a policy question Canadians are entitled to argue about, but there is nothing improper about the Canadian Forces serving abroad -- even in dangerous and potentially lethal fights -- if the Canadian government has determined their presence is appropriate and in the country's interest.

If so, they are now in direct violation of the Minsk II Agreement brokered by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande and signed by the Ukrainian and Russian presidents on Feb. 11.

Every few years, Michael Cooper seems to pop onto the national news radar. The first time, it was as a political oddity, a sort of human-interest story with an edge.

The story appeared under a headline in the National Post that read, "Not your average high school senior: 'Blood sport' of politics has lured Michael Cooper most of his 18 years."

That was 2002. Now it's 2014 and Mr. Cooper is neither a high school student nor an 18-year-old any more. He's a 30-year-old lawyer who appears to harbour deeply conservative views -- although he has successfully kept discussion of what he thinks, particularly about social conservative issues such as LGBTQ rights and reproductive rights, well off the radar.

Netanyahu lavished a degree of effusive praise on Harper that he reserves for no other world leader -- certainly not the President of Israel's most important ally and biggest funder, the United States.

The American administration may be solidly pro-Israel, but it still would like a lasting and viable peace settlement with the Palestinians, an idea that the Israeli leader only occasionally pretends to support, in the most tepid and unenthusiastic fashion.

For the first time, the federal government has come down on an Alberta employer for misusing the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.

Noralta Lodge is a hotel chain in northern Alberta that specializes in providing accommodations for oilfield workers. After a six month audit, the government found that Noralta provided "false, misleading or inaccurate information" in its request for a Labour Market Opinion, which permits an employer to hire staff through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.

The resulting punishment landed Noralta on the blacklist and barred the lodge from using temporary foreign workers for two years.

Update:On Tuesday morning, November 4, with the deadline looming, Immigration Minister Chris Alexander announced that the Harper government will comply with the Federal Court of Appeals ruling, and will reinstate the refugee health program.

He added, however, that the government's "focus" will continue to be on the minority to whom it had, all along, agreed to provide health care: "resettled refugees" and "successful asylum seekers."

When a government is strongly committed to a policy it is usually very open and up front about it.

The Harper government has said, for quite a while, that most of those who come to Canada seeking refugee status do not deserve health care.

Current Immigration Minister Chris Alexander and his predecessor Jason Kenney have both characterized a large number of the often-desperate people who seek Canada’s protection under the 1951 Geneva Convention as 'bogus refugees.'